Creating 21st Century Facilities for Advocacy
Chicago-Kent has attained unparalleled success in trial and appellate advocacy over the past five years. In the national championship competition, trial teams from Chicago-Kent have won twice, finished within the top four teams nationally two more times, and three students have been named best oralist in the country. Appellate advocacy teams have worked assiduously to keep up, also garnering two national crowns in that period.
To continue this momentum, Chicago-Kent will expand and enhance its advocacy facilities starting this year. The Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Courtroom is in need of significant cosmetic and technology upgrades in order to host national tournaments that will continue to grow this great tradition and our reputation. We plan to renovate current classroom space into dedicated practice areas for the growing advocacy programs.
Chicago-Kent hired architect Thomas Roszak, an IIT alumnus and adjunct professor in IIT’s College of Architecture, to design and build state of the art advocacy facilities on the 1st floor of the law school building.
Step One:
During the summer and fall of 2012, classroom 155 will be transformed into a practice courtroom to provide dedicated practice space for student competition teams. With state of the art technology, the practice courtroom will be used to teach our litigation technology class beginning in spring of 2013. See the slideshow at right for before photos, a mockup of the new space, and renderings of the finished practice courtroom.
Step Two:
During the fall and winter of 2012, we will work with Thomas Roszak Architecture to redesign the Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Courtroom to provide for much needed cosmetic and technology improvements. Build out will begin as funding becomes available.
Step Three:
As funding becomes available, we will work with Thomas Roszak Architecture to add a second practice courtroom in Room 180 to provide for additional student competition team practice space.
Please see naming opportunities below. For additional information, contact Susan Lewers, Assistant Dean for Institutional Advancement, at (312) 906-5236 or slewers@kentlaw.iit.edu, or Judge David Erickson, Director of the Trial Advocacy Program, at (312) 906-5176 or derickson@kentlaw.iit.edu.
Or, make your gift today at www.kentlaw.edu/give.
Naming Opportunities
In the Practice Courtroom
During the fall of 2012, Chicago-Kent will open a practice courtroom in classroom 155. The practice courtroom will primarily be dedicated practice space for advocacy teams. With the most advanced technology in the building, the room will also be home to the innovative Litigation Technology class.
$50,000 Judges’ Bench
$50,000 Seating Gallery
$30,000 Jury Box
$25,000 Counsel Table (2)
$20,000 Podium
$10,000 Judges Chairs (3)
For the Trophy Showcase Hallway
During the fall of 2012, a trophy hallway will be built to showcase trial advocacy and moot court successes, improving an industrial-looking hallway headed to the entrance to the practice courtroom.
Trophy Showcase Hallway Naming – Call Susan Lewers at (312) 906-5236 for information
$25,000 to have your contribution acknowledged on a plate inside an individual trophy case (8 total)
In the Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Courtroom
Once sufficient funds are raised, the Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Courtroom will undergo cosmetic and technology improvements to bring this showcase courtroom up to 21st century advocacy standards.
$150,000 Seating Gallery
$100,000 Judges’ Bench
$50,000 Jury Room
$50,000 Jury Box
$30,000 Podium
$25,000 Counsel Table (2)
$15,000 Judge’s chambers
$10,000 Judges Chairs (3)
In a Possible 2nd Practice Courtroom
If a naming donor can be secured, a second practice courtroom may be built in classroom 180.
Contact Susan Lewers at (312) 906-5236 for more information.
On the Plaque
Gifts of $1,000 or more to the courtroom facility project will be acknowledged on a plaque outside the practice courtroom.